Seminar to discuss political correctness and free speech

Huntington University’s Visiting Executive Seminar (VES) brings together business leaders and HU business students to discuss important issues in today’s business world. On November 3, VES will examine the topic of “Political Correctness Meets Free Speech.” The seminar will take place from 8:30 a.m. until noon in the Habecker Dining Commons.

The discussion will be led by James O’Donnell, Executive-in-Residence, Emeritus Standing, and Troy Irick, Assistant Professor of Business / Director of Lilly Grant for Educational Collaboration.

The 2017 fall VES will explore freedom of thought and expression in the American workplace, specifically as it applies to the issue of why, when women represent more than 50 percent of the U.S. workforce, more of them are not in higher management. This topic of discussion will focus on James Damore, the Harvard-educated computer engineer who was fired from Google in August for criticizing that company’s “politically correct monoculture” in a sharply-written, 10-page memo entitled “Google’s Ideological Echo Chamber.” According to Damore’s research, women fail to thrive in the most competitive arenas of technology because, in part, they are wired more relationally and less competitively. For making that assertion with supporting research, Damore was fired. The seminar will also address two specific articles that have covered this story as it relates to freedom of expression, truth and political correctness.

Attendance to the seminar is by invitation only and is underwritten by Myers Funeral Home of Huntington, Indiana. For additional information, please contact James O’Donnell at (260) 359-4236 or jodonnell@huntington.edu.